Politics Archives - Page 99 of 112

Blue Monday

Democracy Now

Thoughts on losing, winning, and politics

May 14, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington In my last two “Blue Monday” columns I reflected on the theme of “consonance and dissonance” and politics. More concretely, I suggested that it is very important, especially on the broad democratic left, to promote ...

Feature

Understanding Conservative Political Incorrectness

A brief, and incomplete, intellectual history of identity politics on the right

May 9, 2018 • by Claire Potter

How do we understand the contemporary conservative pride in political incorrectness? One of the core principles of contemporary conservatism today is that identity -- race, gender, sexuality -- should neither entitle anyone to rights, nor imprison them in an ideology. Identity, conservatives argue, is something that liberals use to create constituencies ...

Understanding Conservative Political Incorrectness

Blue Monday

Primary Contests

Further thoughts on consonance and dissonance

May 7, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington In the coming week, millions of Americans will go to the polls on May 8 to determine which candidates will run in the upcoming November general election. The November election is particularly important given the ...

Blue Monday

Consonance, Dissonance, Harmony

Itinerary of some thoughts on thinking politically

April 30, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington This is my fourteenth “Blue Monday” column. In but a few weeks, I have already written over forty thousand words in this virtual space. It’s not as if I don’t have a life. The column is not ...

Feature

For Conservatives, It’s Stormy Weather

Is the GOP dividing over Trump’s scandalous personal life?

April 25, 2018 • by Claire Potter

Why are so many Christian conservatives refusing to criticize Donald Trump's pay to play sex life? The news of a $130,000 settlement made to porn star Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a. Stormy Daniels, via alleged fixer Michael Cohen, is only the latest episode in which conservative religious leaders and the voters they ...

Blue Monday

Between Past and Future

Thinking about life and death

April 23, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington I attended an interesting talk yesterday. Being a young scholar, the speaker was (of course) using PowerPoint. At one moment in the talk he referenced a “recent argument” that he would engage. As he did ...

Feature

How to Learn from Conservatives

Stop talking and listen

April 18, 2018 • by Claire Potter

In February, I was able to attend the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference, held annually in a conference center outside Washington, D.C. I live blogged two days of general sessions, interviewed people, heard numerous speakers, and was present at a Trump rally. I had the opportunity to talk to a ...

Blue Monday

Damascus Blues

On the bombing of Syria

April 16, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington As promised by our Bloviator-in-Chief, we bombed Syria last Friday, inauspiciously the 13th of April. It was not the first time the United States has bombed Syria. The US has been conducting a low-intensity air war against ISIS, in ...

Blue Monday

Alabama on My Mind

A blues reflection on Martin Luther King, Jr.

April 9, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

This past week was the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. King is ever-present in our public consciousness, related to the iconic status he has assumed over the years, and to the fact that his birthday is celebrated as a national holiday ...

Feature

Two Europes, Not Quite the Same

Cedric Robinson’s concept of racial capitalism in Eastern Europe

April 3, 2018 • by Elena Gagovska

Yugoslavia was in a state of bloody mayhem. Bullets whistled back and forth across the streets from the weapons of invisible shooters, snipers. But as the shells vied to wipe out passersby, reduce thousand-year-old bridges to dust, and the formerly ‘new’ philosophers vied to shame us, going out of their ...

North America

Damon Linker is Wrong About Liberals

Here’s why

April 3, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Damon Linker is a respected writer, columnist for The Week, and editor (University of Pennsylvania Press). He is also a Facebook friend of mine. I enjoy his columns, and often exchange comments with him. He has offered strong and admirable criticisms of Trump, and of the ways the Republican party and ...

Blue Monday

Backlash Blues

A reflection on democracy in the streets of Sacramento

April 2, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington On the evening of Sunday, March 18 Stephon Clark was shot to death by officers of the Sacramento Police Department responding to a report that a young black man had been seen vandalizing cars in ...